Pierre Monteux (1875-1964)
had a major career on both sides of the Atlantic. This CD of live
performances usefully brings together the two principal strands
of his North American career. From 1919 to 1924 Monteux was principal
conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and he returned to
it regularly as a guest conductor from 1951 until his death. At
Boston he rebuilt the orchestra’s fortunes after the Great War
and the internment of the orchestra’s previous permanent conductor,
Karl Muck. In 1936 he was invited to take over the podium of the
San Francisco Symphony, acting as their principal conductor until
1952 and once again he rebuilt the orchestra. Indeed, his achievement
on the west coast was arguably even more significant than in Boston,
for the San Francisco orchestra had been crippled by financial
difficulties in the years before he arrived there and it was,
in effect, reconstituted on his arrival.

The most important
item on this disc is the 1957 performance of Le Sacre duPrintemps. Monteux had conducted the notorious première
of the work and he remained associated with it throughout his
career. For example, it was on the very first programme that
he conducted in Boston when he returned to that orchestra in
1951. Incidentally, in his booklet note Robert Matthew-Walker
states that after leaving Boston in 1924 the conductor “maintained
a close association with the Boston Symphony until his death.”
I don’t think that’s quite accurate. Monteux was pretty much
ousted from Boston. Koussevitsky was engaged as his successor
even before Monteux’s contract expired and he was never included
on the Boston roster of guest conductors until Charles Munch
succeeded Koussevitsky and almost immediately invited Monteux
back.

In 1956 he made
his last recording of Le Sacre, a studio account in stereo
for RCA with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. In his biography
of Monteux, Pierre Monteux, Maître (2003) the conductor,
John Canarina laments that the record company didn’t wait until
Monteux performed the piece in Boston the following year. Hearing
this live account now I can only agree with him. The Paris performance,
though captured in good stereo sound, is a tepid affair, in
which the orchestra sounds by turns tentative and uninspired.
By contrast this Boston version shows what Monteux could achieve
when he had a fully engaged virtuoso band at his disposal. True,
the sound is not as good as that on the Paris stereo recording
– there’s a lack of front-to-back depth at times and the recording
is somewhat close. Also there are times when the percussion
distorts significantly. It must be said too that although the
BSO plays superbly there are one or two slips, as one often
finds in live performance. Thus, for instance, the bassoonist
falters momentarily when he repeats his opening solo. However,
the few such minor lapses didn’t spoil my pleasure and they
convey the feeling of a live, unedited occasion.

However, to compensate
for any sonic deficiencies you get a reading of real bite and
rhythmic drive. As a performance this is the real deal. It’s
not flashy but it has great spirit and urgency, though the tempi
are never unduly pressed – remember that, unlike many conductors
who essay Le Sacre, Monteux had significant experience
of directing the work in the pit. Frequently I marvelled at
the fact that Monteux could inspire such an energetic performance
eight days after his eighty-second birthday. And though the
extrovert moments are tremendously exciting I found that just
as impressive are the quieter passages, such as the openings
to both Part I and Part II, where Monteux achieves fine clarity
of texture. As far as I’m aware this hugely impressive reading
has never been available on CD before – I think it had limited
circulation years ago on a small LP label – and Guild deserve
our thanks for making it available. It shows Monteux’s association
with Le Sacre in a far better light than did the RCA
recording.

The other performances
all come from Monteux’s time in San Francisco and, specifically,
from the fortnightly contributions that he and his orchestra
made to a Sunday evening series of radio broadcasts sponsored
by Standard Oil – on alternate weeks the Los Angeles Philharmonic
provided the broadcasts. Robert Matthew- Walker asserts in his
notes that the Rimsky-Korsakov pieces are here “brought together
as a collection for the first time on CD” but I’m afraid that’s
not so. All these performances, and the Borodin piece too, were
included in the Music & Arts box Sunday Evenings with
Pierre Monteux (CD –978 and later reissued in an expanded
form as CD-1192). This collection was reviewed
most enthusiastically by Jonathan Woolf.

The performances
are all most enjoyable though the Borodin is given in a slightly
truncated form, I believe, and anyway I never see the point
in doing this piece without chorus. The Russian Easter Festival
Overture receives a colourful and spirited reading and I
also enjoyed the magical, glittering quiet start to Christmas
Night. Comparing the transfers of these San Francisco recordings
with those on Music & Arts, the Guild versions have more
warmth and body – I suspect the transfer has been more interventionist.
Purists may object but, though the Music & Arts transfers
are fully acceptable, I preferred the listening experience provided
by Guild. The sound quality varies somewhat: the Christmas
Night recording, which is the oldest, is the most beset
by surface noise. Though no recording location is specified
I assume that all these performances took place in the War Memorial
Opera House, San Francisco, which was the orchestra’s home in
those days.

Don’t be put off
by any sonic considerations. Without exception the performances
on this CD are vital, idiomatic and full of interest. Monteux’s
mastery in Russian music is at all times evident. Summing up
the Music & Arts set of San Francisco Sunday broadcasts,
Jonathan Woolf wrote “Sixteen hours with Pierre Monteux is no
time at all, so zestful, so clear, so deft his musicianship
and so sympathetic his conducting.” How true! I enjoyed that
box every bit as much as he did but, even at the advantageous
price, it’s a significant investment. It’s good, therefore that
Guild have made available these Rimsky and Borodin performances
in a much more economical package. But the raison-d’être
for this disc must surely be the opportunity it affords us to
hear Monteux at the helm of a virtuoso orchestra in a concert
performance of Le Sacre. The sound may be imperfect at
times but it’s an unmissable experience, and not just for admirers
of Le Maitre such as myself.

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